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Monday, July 18, 2011

United’s ‘legend’ appears on Facebook

OFF WITH THE SHIRT: Pravintheran was forced to remove the jersey.

KUALA LUMPUR: A local Manchester United (MU) fan who went to watch his favourite club's arch-rival Liverpool's training session while donning a United jersey with Wayne Rooney's name on it at Bukit Jalil National Stadium last Thursday now has a Facebook fanpage dedicated to him.

Despite its creation on Saturday, the fanpage called "Pravintheran Nair - Legend - Who wears (sic) MU Jersey at Liverpool Asia Tour 2011", has collected 3,000 'Likes' as of midnight.

He was described as a 'legend' by none other than the Red Devils' talismanic striker himself, Wayne Rooney.

Rooney had, in his personal Twitter account on Friday, tweeted: "The lad who went to watch Liverpool train in MUFC top with my name on the back is a legend."

Support, as shown on the Facebook wall posts, is pouring in for Pravintheran. His remarkable story was even highlighted by Daily Mail and The Sun (UK).

Locals and foreigners alike took the opportunity to congratulate him. Many seemed to agree with Rooney that he is now a legend.

The Facebook fanpage.

"God bless you and your family... from us in Swaziland, South Africa," said a Facebook user, Wandile Skreech Fakudze.

Another Facebook user Helmi Ismail wrote: "Salute to you Pravintheran! Will you be doing the same for the Chelsea vs Malaysia game?" One of the posts even went as far as to suggest for Pravintheran's name to be included in Old Trafford's Hall of Fame.

Aside from the fanpage, a YouTube clip showing Pravintheran being jeered by Liverpool fans inside the stadium was also uploaded. At Press time, it received viewership of more than 17,000.

The uploader claimed Pravintheran had provoked Liverpool fans by showing off his United jersey and kissing the United badge while making his way up to his seat.

"If he had just sat down quietly and watched the training, I think he would have received only boos."

The video showed Pravintheran, wearing Rooney's No 10 jersey, being surrounded by screaming hordes of Liverpool fans asking him to take off the shirt. The jersey was eventually taken off by one of the Liverpool fans.

He was then led away, shirtless, from the crowd.

The clip ended with a photograph of Pravintheran, smiling and wearing a Harimau Muda T-shirt.